Sharks rally to beat Predators 8-5 SA

By JOSH DUBOW
AP Sports Writer

SAN JOSE, Calif.(AP) — After watching his team rally for the
third straight game with a six-goal third period, all San Jose
coach Todd McLellan wanted to talk about was the listless play
the first two periods that put the Sharks in the hole.

“We were clearly outworked, outplayed, outhustled for two
periods and that’s very disappointing,” McLellan said. “The
positive is that they did respond in the third, but I’m
disappointed in the first two obviously.”

Joe Pavelski made sure those first two periods wouldn’t hurt the
Sharks, capping a four-point third with a scintillating spin
move for the tiebreaking goal that gave San Jose an 8-5 victory
over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.

Pavelski assisted on the first two goals of the period to erase
a 4-2 deficit and then twice scored the tiebreaking goal,
leading the Sharks to their third straight comeback victory.

“It’s not acceptable the way we came out and played,” he said.
“The start of that game wasn’t good. It wasn’t how we want to
play.”

Dany Heatley also scored twice and had an assist and Manny
Malhotra had a goal and two assists in the six-goal third period
for San Jose. The Sharks overcame one-goal deficits in the third
period of their previous two games, rallying to beat Montreal
and Columbus.

Patric Hornqvist and J.P. Dumont each scored two goals for the
Predators, who dominated the first two periods before falling
apart in the third in what could be a possible playoff preview.

Dan Ellis faced only 11 shots in the first two periods, before
allowing four goals on 12 shots in the third period. He was
pulled for Pekka Rinne after allowing Pavelski’s second goal.

“The fifth and sixth goals – those were horrendous things that
happened,” Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. “We needed saves.
That’s the bottom line.”

Rinne allowed Patrick Marleau’s 40th goal with 2:26 to go, and
Jay Leach scored an empty-netter for his first career goal.

The Sharks moved two points ahead of Chicago for the best record
in the Western Conference. Nashville fell into a tie for seventh
with Calgary.

The Sharks were thoroughly dominated for the first two periods,
getting outshot 34-11 and trailing 4-2. But they erased the
deficit in just over 5 minutes of the third period with goals by
Heatley and Malhotra.

Malhotra’s goal came when a rebound of a shot by Pavelski hit
off his skate and went into the net. After a long replay review,
the referees ruled Malhotra did not kick it in and counted the
goal.

“It looked like a kicking motion,” Trotz said. “Malhotra saw the
puck was behind him and he tried to corral it. It’s still a
kicking motion. I don’t agree (with the ruling). But there’s
nothing you can do right now.”

Replay reviews weren’t good to the Predators. They had a goal
waved off in the second period because Dustin Boyd was ruled to
have kicked the puck into the net.

Pavelski gave San Jose the lead when he took an awkward bounce
off the board and skated in all alone against Ellis before
scoring to give the Sharks their first lead. It was short-lived
as Dumont tipped in a shot about 2 minutes later to tie it at 5
with 6:34 to go.

Pavelski’s next goal was much more spectacular and stood up as
the winner. He skated in on Ryan Suter, spun around with a
360-degree move and then shot the puck through Ellis’ pads for
what proved to be the winner.

“You expect the goalie to stop that one,” Pavelski said. “I was
surprised as anyone that it went in. I was just trying to get
the puck on net. I think I’ve tried it a few times but never had
any kind of success. I usually bail halfway through it because I
know it’s not going to work.”

Evgeni Nabokov made 40 saves for San Jose.

The Sharks came into the game off a four-day break and looked
rusty from the start. The Predators controlled the play early,
putting heavy pressure on Nabokov. They finally broke through on
the power play when Hornqvist knocked home the rebound of a shot
by Shea Weber to make it 1-0.

Nashville was outshooting San Jose 15-1 before Heatley scored
his first goal to tie the game. The Predators scored three times
in the second to take the 4-2 lead.

“It was a lack of work in the first two periods,” Malhotra said.
“We took shortcuts. They beat us to a lot of loose pucks. We
didn’t close gaps quick enough in the defensive zone and they
took advantage of us. We’ll definitely look to clean that up.”

NOTES: Weber returned to the Predators’ lineup after missing two
games with an upper-body injury. … The six goals in the third
tied a franchise record for most goals in a period, matching the
six scored in the second period against Hartford on Jan. 30,
1996. … Sharks D Douglas Murray did not play the third period
after hurting himself while blocking a shot.